PayU has teamed up with Ipsos and ARC to survey more than 3,000 adults across the United States, Colombia, and Poland.
E-commerce is bigger and more global than ever before – creating a wider variety of options for consumers, along with opportunities for online merchants to grow more easily beyond their borders.
But successful international expansion requires more than just setting up a website or new marketplace profile in a new country. Merchants must be aware of local market dynamics, including not just what customers like to buy, but how they like to make online purchases from the point of searching for products up through checkout and beyond.
What do consumers look for when buying e-commerce products from cross-border merchants, and how can businesses ensure they are prepared to succeed when reaching into new markets?
To answer these questions and more, PayU partnered with Ipsos and the Poland-based market research institute ARC Rynek i Opinia in order to survey over 3,000 adults in the United States, Colombia, and Poland.
Keep reading for a snapshot of key findings, and scroll to the bottom to download your copy of the full report.
Just 25% of American survey respondents said they have bought products or services online from retailers based abroad within the past 12 months. However, nearly half (48%) of those who had shopped online from international merchants reported doing so at least once per month – indicating the potential for further expansion.
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Over half (55%) of US survey respondents said they use credit cards the most when buying from an international e-commerce shop. 55% also said they would use a digital or mobile wallet, while 1 in 10 would opt for Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL).
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For survey respondents who had not made an international purchase online, high delivery costs were cited by nearly 1 in 3 (29%) as the leading deterrent. Return-related complications (23%) were also a key factor for this group.
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In contrast to the impact of Buy Local initiatives when it comes to brick-and-mortar businesses, only a quarter (26%) of American respondents who had not shopped from international e-commerce merchants said this was because they felt they should only support merchants in the United States.
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Over the past 12 months, 22% of respondents in Colombia reported having bought products or services online from retailers based abroad, versus 55% who had shopped online with Colombia-based retailers.
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Consumers who had participated in cross-border e-commerce cited delivery cost and taxes (22%) as well as delivery times (20%) as key reasons for not buying from online merchants based abroad.
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The United States (61%) was second only to China (67%) in terms of the most popular countries where online consumers reported having purchased products from abroad.
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Online consumers in Colombia show a greater openness to cryptocurrencies when it comes to paying for products or services bought online from retailers based either locally or abroad, with over half (53%) of respondents saying they would consider paying with crypto versus 31% in the United States.
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In our Polish survey, the European Union (36%) ranked second in terms of countries where Polish e-commerce consumers had made an online purchase from abroad.
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As in Colombia, fashion products (50%) topped the list of products that online consumers reported having purchased from abroad. Electronics (26%), Toys (26%), and Beauty & Cosmetics (25%) were virtually tied for #2.
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Approximately half of respondents in the markets survey said that if their preferred payment method was not available when considering a cross-border purchase, they would look elsewhere or not make the purchase at all.
73% of Americans, 74% of Colombians, and 88% of Polish respondents said they would feel safer making cross-border purchases online if they recognized the payment service provider.
When it comes to cross-border e-commerce, credit cards remain the most popular payment method in both the United States and Colombia, while Polish consumers – by nearly a 2-1 margin – prefer to pay using a online bank transfer (41% versus 21% for credit cards).
Younger demographics in all three markets showed a greater interest in Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products, while 25-34 year-olds in Colombia preferred bank transfers over credit card payments when shopping across borders online.
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